Patent GB-190211587-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Typewriting and Adding Machines.
Inventor: FELL JOHN CORRY
Filed: 1902-05-21
Granted: 1902-11-06
Abstract: 11,587. Fell, J. C., [Union Typewriter Co.]. May 21. Calculating - apparatus.- Relates to type-writers specially adapted for printing numbers in column form and recording the sum of the quantities or amounts printed. The type-writer to which the adding-mechanism is applied is substantially the same as that described in Specification No. 17,651, A.D. 1899. The machine is shown in plan in Fig. 5, and in vertical section in Fig. 3. The carriage comprises endpieces 7 united by bars 8 so as to form a frame which is guided by antifriction rollers 9 on rails 5. Through arms 12 of the uprights 7 pass rods 13 secured to the tierods 11 of the platen carrier 10. The rods 13 are adapted to be raised and lowered for change of case. The paper carriage bears fixed and movable escapement pawls 16 which co-act with a rack - bar 17. The rackbar is carried by two-armed levers 18, which also carry the universal bar 21, which overlies the rear ends of the key-levers 22 behind the pivotal points 23. In addition to the paper carriage the machine is provided with a supplementary carriage which forms part of the adding- mechanism. This carriage is guided by rollers 36 on rails 37, and comprises end-pieces 31, 32 secured together by means of shafts 30, 33, bar 34, and bottom plate 35. The number wheels 27, Figs. 3, 5, and 13, are carried loosely on the shaft 30. Each number wheel carries a gear 28 meshing with a pinion 38 on the shaft 33, and also a carrying gear 29 adapted to be engaged by a pivoted carrying-pawl 39 carried by the adjacent pinion 38 of lower denomination. The units wheel and the tenths wheel are separated by a short space as shown in Fig. 5. Snapping detents 44 hold the number-wheels 27 against accidental rotation. Vertical pillars extending from a cross-bar 1* of the frame support a plate 47 from which extends a bracket 49. Another bracket 50 is secured to the left-band side of the machine frame, and the brackets 49, 50 are provided with bearings for a shaft 51 held against endwise movement by collars 52, 53. On the shaft 51 is secured a pinion 54 which serves to rotate the pinions 38 and numberwheels 27 one at a time through varying degrees as the carriage 31 moves along the rails 37. In Fig, 5, the carriage 31 is shown in its normal or inactive position, the left-hand pinion 38 belonging to the number-wheel of highest denomination being clear of the pinion 54, with which it is the first to come into engagement when the adding mechanism is in use. On the shaft 51 is loosely mounted a fusee 55, round which passes a cord 62 constantly tensioned by a spring 68. A cylindrical portion 58 connects the fuse with a ratchetwheel 59 which constantly presses against a pawl 60 so as to tend to rotate the disc 57, shaft 51, and pinion 54. On the shaft 51 are secured two ratchet-wheels 70, Figs. 3 and 19, normally held fast by a detent-bar 71 carried by arms 72 pivoted on a fixed rod 74. The detent-bar is pressed upwards by a spring 76, Fig. 3. Normally out of engagement with the ratchet-wheels 70 are two sliding ratchet bars 77, connected by cross-bars 78, Fig. 19, so as to slide together on a plate 80, which is carried by arms 81 pivoted on the rod 74. Between the arms 81, 72 are arms 82 connected by a rod 83. The arms 82 rest on pins 84 projecting inwards from the arms 72, and the ratchet bars 77 are provided with pins 85 which rest on the arms 82. The spring 76 therefore holds up the arms 82 and ratchet bars 77 as well as the detent bar 71. A cord 88 tensioned by a spring 87 normally holds the ratchet bars 77 at their extreme rearward position on the plate 80 on which they are guided. The numeral key-levers of the machine, with the exception of that denoting zero, are connected by links 92, Fig. 3, with the rear ends of a series of nine levers 93 pivoted on the rod 74. At their forward ends the levers 93 overlie the rod 83, Fig. 19. Each lever 93 bears a lug 94 adapted to pass down through an opening 95 in the plate 80, and the lugs are arranged in oblique or stepped order, the opening 95 being correspondingly inclined. When a numeral keylever 22 is depressed, the forward end of the corresponding lever 93 is depressed, carrying with it the bar 83, arms 82, 72, and detent-bar 71. The tension of the cord 62 causes the fusee 55, shaft 51, and ratchet-wheels 70 to rotate, and the ratchetwheels push forward the ratchet bars 77, which have been engaged with them owing to the dropping of the plate 80, which is no longer supported by the arms 82. The ratchet-wheels continue to rotate until the rear cross-bar 78 connecting the ratchet bars is arrested by contact with the depressed lug 94, as shown in Fig. 19. The extent of this movement depends upon which lever 93 is depressed, that is, upon which numeral key is in use. The selected rotation of the shaft 51 is communicated by the pinion 54 to the particular pinion 38 which is in engagement with it at the time, and the proper rotation is thus imparted to the corresponding number-wheel. The rotation of the shaft 51 and pinion 54 will always take place when a numeral key is depressed, whether the adding-mechanism is in operation or not, and in order to keep the cord 62 wound up on the fusee 55 a cord 96 connected to a spring barrel on the carriage is adapted to rotate the shaft 51 oppositely to the cord 62 during the right-hand or return movement of the carriage at the end of each line. During the left-hand movement of the carriage the aforesaid spring barrel takes up slack in the cord 96. The connection between the carriage 31 of the adding-mechanism and the paper carriage 7 is of the following character :-The rear bar 34 of the carriage 31 is provided with a wide rack 104 with which the pinion 105 always engages. When the shaft 106 is in the position shown in Fig. 3 its rear pinion 109 is clear of a rack carried by the block 101, which forms part of the paper carriage, and the adding-mechanism is entirely out of action. At this time the shaft 106 is locked against accidental movement by the engagement of the flat surface of a half-round block 110 with the underside of a bar 111. If the shaft 106 is pushed endwise by means of a suitable lever the pinion 109 is brought into such a position that when towards the last portion of the left-hand movement of the paper-carriage the block 110 escapes from beneath the bar 111, a rack carried by the righthand portion of the carriage engages with the pinion 109, and thus effects the temporary coupling together through the shaft 106 of the paper carriage and the carriage 31. It is at this moment that the first numeral is to be written in the column of numbers to be added, and from this point onwards a pointer carried by the carriage 31 indicates on a suitable scale the denomination of the number-wheel which is for the time being in connection with the pinion 54. By following this scale the operator can always write the first numeral of any number in its proper position in the column, and the corresponding amount will always be added to the reading of the proper number-wheel. A spiral spring 131, Fig. 5, is connected by a cord 128 with a semi-cylinder 127, Fig. 3, which forms a part of the shaft 106. While the block 110 is engaged by the bar 111 the cord 128 pulls in the axial plane of the shaft 106 and does not tend to rotate it, but as soon as the rack on the bar 101 commences to turn the pinion 109, the cord rises out of the axial plane and gives an independent driving tension to the carriage 31, which does not in consequence act as a drag on the paper carriage. When writing at the foot of the column the sum recorded by the adding-mechanism, the shaft 106 is either drawn forwards to disconnect the two carriages, or a sliding bar 134, Fig. 5, is pushed to the right so as to engage a tooth 133 with the pinion 54 and prevent the escapement-like action of the ratchetwheels 70. To correspond with the space left between the units and tenths number-wheels a gap is formed in the carriage feed-rack, which causes a double feed to take place at the proper moment. If the gap is not left in the rack, the period or space-bar must be depressed after writing a figure in the units column. The adding-wheels 27 may be immovable laterally and the driver 54 be traversed relatively to them, instead of adopting the converse arrangement described.